Conventional ski poles typically comprise hollow, tapered shafts made of aluminum or some other lightweight metal, with a basket and tip mounted on one end and a hand grip mounted on the other end. Because of their tapered shape and the materials from which they are made, these conventional ski poles require a substantial amount of time and effort to manufacture and are accordingly expensive to produce.
Another significant characteristic of the traditional aluminum ski pole is the fact that the shafts are soft and tend to permanently deform or even collapse under the bending loads which are commonly encountered during skiing. When bent to the point of partial collapse, the pole shafts cannot be restored to original shape and strength.
In recent years, ski pole shafts comprising filament/resin composites have been proposed as alternatives to conventional aluminum shafts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,201 (Stout) discloses one such alternative ski pole shaft comprising an annular array of continuous reinforcing filaments embedded in a synthetic resin matrix and formed into a hollow tubular shaft by the process known as pultrusion. The filaments extend rectilinearly along the length of the shaft.
While such poles possess some advantages over conventional aluminum poles, they also possess disadvantages which greatly detract from their utility and marketability. The hollow pultruded shaft disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,201 (Stout) lacks sufficient strength to adequately support the body weight of a skier, i.e. it tends to give or bend too much, and it is relatively easily crushed. Also, the filaments near the surface in composite shafts tend to break or splinter under bending loads, protruding from the surface of the prior art ski pole shaft and creating a splinter hazard to the user's hands.